Bleaching root filled teeth

When teeth have root canal treatment (an RCT) they can discolour for a variety of reasons. Injury can cause bleeding into the very small tubes that the nerve fibres were in the dentine, which get darker with time. The root canal cement can contain sliver which oxidises. These colours can be very hard to remove, one way is to place an oxidising agent like sodium perborate into the tooth, often this needs refreshing several times. Below are a couple of cases showing that sometimes we get a great result, sometimes not so great.

Before bleaching, a very dark band is seen in the middle of the tooth

After bleaching and replacing the filling. No crown was required

A heavily discoloured tooth after a root canal treatment

&quot;non-vital bleaching&quot; can improve the colour, but far from a perfect result